Counter-Strike

Third place decider started off on mirage, a map where SK Gaming clearly felt confident especially after it was their map win over ESC gaming earlier in the day. After winning the knife SK picked the predictable CT side to kick off the battle. Pistol round saw GeT_RiGhT opening the third place decider with a kill onto zneel which led to SK taking the first round. It didn’t take long for SK to start dominating their opponent once again on CT side, managing to go 10-0 up until Lions took their first round. At 11-1, it looked as if Lions swe would finally get a second round after quickly getting the bomb plant at B but with SK’s fast rotate and strong aimers it didn’t take long for each player of Lions to be destroyed with SK not losing a single man. The last round of the first half saw Lions head to the B site once again with trace defending but being taken down quickly, leading to Lions taking their second round to end first half 13-2.

Next pistol round went once again to SK thanks to a 2v1 clutch by RobbaN who managed to defend the bomb with low hp. The following rounds saw SK managing to gain easy entry into the bomb site with Lions showing little fight in comparison to SK’s aggressive rushing into the sites. At 15-2 the last round was dependant on RobbaN once again to win the map for SK as another 2v1 clutch was seen by the tactician, ending the first map 16-2 in their favour.

Second map was inferno with Lions picking up knife round and choosing to start CT. kHRYSTAL kicked off the opening frag with a kill onto f0rest after a failed boost into sniper deck. SK continued to push into the B bomb site on pistol round but were quickly dealt with by niko and zneel , witnessing Lions taking the first pistol round of inferno. With Lions 3-0 up, SK took their first buy round and decided for a slow push into A which was once again stopped by Lions, giving them another round and forcing SK onto a deco round. The deco round saw SK get into A after 2 deagle headshots from GeT_RiGhT, with the bomb planted only two of SK remained with low HP which enabled Lions to retake quickly and defuse the bomb to go 5-0 up. With Lions on 7-0, SK finally got their first round to bring the score to 7-1. Lions continued their faultless play on CT side and it wasn’t until the thirteenth round that SK got their second round (11-2). The remaining rounds went to Lions, switching the tables by giving Lions the lead 13-2, polar opposite from their mirage performance.

Second half saw Lions doing a B site rush and swiftly planting the bomb, SK were fast on the rotate and took down the remainders of Lions, giving them a light in the end of the tunnel to bring the match back. At 4-0 down, Lions put their first round on the board after a push into A site which was being defended by only two SK players, enabling them to gain control quickly to get the bomb down. The next round looked as if it was game over for SK as Lions nearly took the match point after entry into B site, but once again RobbaN took another 2v1 clutch and defused the bomb to save the day once again. Lions quickly responded to the previous lost round, by taking the next two rounds with easy entry into the A bomb site seeing SK unable to retake both times, giving Lions the second map victory 16-7 and forcing both teams to play a third map.

Last map saw the final battle of the day commence on nuke, marking Lions starting CT side and opening the game well with the pistol round win. Next round saw SK force themselves into upper site which worked out well as the bomb was speedily planted with Lions unable to retake, evening the score at 1-1. Third round saw the lead being given to Lions 2-1 after kHRYSTAL destroyed GeT_RiGhT in the 1on1 situation to take another round for Lions. THREAT then individually took another after picking up four frags overall, three of which being the opening frags, pushing SK to suffer economically. With Lions 7-1 up, SK picked up their second round with a top site plant, with RobbaN distracting niko long enough to disallow him to defuse. The last and final round saw SK getting the plant in top site with a 4 vs 2 situation which quickly went down to a 1v1 featuring kHRYSTAL and face, with the latter being taken down in the shaft allowing kHRYSTAL to take the final round of the first half with Lions seeing the lead 11-4.

Second half pistol went to SK with a pleasant retake of lower bomb site. 2-0 down in the third round, Lions entered the bottom bomb site with a momentous performance from Jim 'zneel' Andersson who picked up the first ace of the match, putting the overall score at 12-6 for Lions. Next few rounds were exchanged to bring the score to 14-9 until Lions gained match point. Final round saw trace in a 1v4 situation where he failed to pick off a single member with Lions waiting for him, awarding Lions the bronze medal at the IEM6 World Championship.

With the win Lions swe have picked up $8,000 for finishing third place while SK Gaming gain $3,800. Tomorrow will see the final take place at 09:10 CET, featuring two times consecutive winners Natus Vincere battle it out against ESC Gaming